Friday 23 Dec 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

Well, last night was the last dance of 2011. Well, almost. There’s still the New Year’s Eve Ball. Most of that happens in 2011.

No sign of Helen, but Nicole was there. (And adamant that I should be also.) We had a long text conversation during the day about doing competition and so forth. I actually ran out of credit on my phone. But I had a chat to her when I got there. She’s talking about ways to raise funds for the two of us to start taking private lessons together. She says — and this amuses me greatly — she knows we’re not going to win, but she doesn’t want us to be embarrassingly bad either. We’re aiming for mediocrity.

The actual dancing wasn’t as much fun as the last one. I don’t know whether I was more tired (my legs were quite sore from moving furniture) or what it was. I just didn’t enjoy myself quite as much. Which is not to say it was awful; it just wasn’t quite as much fun this time. Apparently Wednesday (which I didn’t go to) was much better. Ho hum.

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Thursday 22 Dec 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

On Tuesday I took advantage of a few minutes’ piece and quiet to go visit Lynn, and give her my Christmas present. I think she liked it. It seems she’s never returning to dancing. Well, she’s going to continue line dancing. But it seems she’s never coming back to any of the dances that I do. I fear I might not see her again for a very long time.

I on the other hand took myself out to the Tuesday night “party night”. I thought it started at 8, but apparently this one is 7 until 10. It was more like 7:30 by the time I got there, but hey. It was fairly quiet inside; chairs lining the walls, but nothing more, and yet everyone had somewhere to sit. Not crowded, but not empty either. And with a nice amount of room to dance in. Initially nobody paid much attention to me, but when the dance ended, Helen came over to see how I was going, and Val showed an interest too.

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Monday 19 Dec 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

This should be the bit where I tell you all about it — except that I wasn’t there.

I sat at home watching the grand final of Strictly Come Dancing. That finished around 9. I thought to myself that I could still go to the ball… but after hauling my exhausted body to the top of the stairs, still coughing all over the place, I figured there would simply be no point to it. I’ll just make everyone else ill, and I’m too tired to actually enjoy it, so why bother?

And so, for the first time since I joined the dance school, I missed the Christmas Ball. I still have ticket #7 sitting next to me. My best shirt and trousers and my scarlet waistcoat are still there patiently waiting. But all for nought, now. I wanted to dance the Mayfair Quickstep to the tune of In Dulci Jubilo. I wanted to try out the Catherine Waltz we’ve just been learning. I wanted to get off with Helen. And I wanted to rock & roll to a dozen Christmas songs. But in the end, I didn’t get to do any of that. It’s so sad…

Between me and Lynn, that’s two tickets paid for in good faith but never used. Two people who really wanted to go could have been there in our places. Oh well.

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Thursday 15 Dec 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

No dancing last night, for the simple reason that, once again, I’ve come down with a cold just a few days before the Christmas Ball.

To say “this isn’t fucking fair” would be an understatement.

While we’re on the subject of things that are unfair, I might mention my mother’s reaction. Was she sympathetic? No. Not one bit of it. Instead, she started shouting at me for having a cold. “How dare you be ill! This is inconvenient to me! That is not acceptable!” Give me a fucking break! What the fuck is that woman’s problem? Anyone would think I got ill on purpose, just to spite her. Because, obviously, I enjoy being ill, and I want to miss the most important dance night of the entire year. Stupid fucking woman…

Her answer is that I got ill “because I don’t eat vegetables”. Yes, that must be it. Nothing to do with the fact that I work with an entire office full of people constantly coughing and sniffling — no sir, that cannot have anything to do with it. I suppose none of them eat vegetables either.

Seriously. It really makes me angry when I get blamed for something which self-evidently is not my fault. As if I’m not fucking miserable enough. Yeah, trying to hold a shouting match when your throat is already on fire is really easy too, by the way.

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Monday 12 Dec 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

On Friday I had the pleasure of dancing with the lovely Helen. We spent most of the class learning the Catherine Waltz. It seems to be fairly easy, except for a few little gotchas. It begins with two Reverse Turns. You’re supposed to dance in a circle and end up back where you started; I generally don’t. I’m not completely sure about the Whisk & Wing. Helen didn’t seem to know exactly how her steps go, and I’m not that sure about mine either. Still, it generally works. I keep forgetting that on the next step I’m supposed to go backwards. Other than that, it seems fairly easy.

We finished with a Samba. One of these days I’ll have to figure out how to do that right. Laura was over by the console sorting something out. I did wonder if she might come and join us, but no. Still, I like dancing with Helen, even if she doesn’t Samba like Lynn.

Saturday I was lugging heavy objects around all day. I went upstairs to get ready, and my legs were already complaining about walking up stairs. Needless to say, my evening with Nicole at Far Cotton was not the most lively thing. Turns out she’s still recovering from a cold, so she’s not too sparky either. Still, I enjoyed myself, and I think she did too. Pam & Clive where there, and I’ve got Lynn’s money to give back to her now.

I’m really tired today…

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Thursday 08 Dec 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

Well, I was pretty sleepy before I arrived at last night’s class. That’s probably not a good start. I got to dance with the lovely Nicole, and I see that Helen is back now as well. Plus the hall has been spruced up with… well, a spruce for a start. It now looks nice and festive. First place I’ve been to that has decorations, and it makes me feel a little bit more festive.

When we walked in, the kids class was just finishing. Jesus Christ, those kids have so much energy. I’d love to be able to dance like they do. Man, they’re amazing! Our own class was one of those frustrating ones where you work quite hard, but don’t feel like you’ve achieved much. I guess I was just too tired from the start. We were there an hour, and yet we didn’t seem to have done much. We practised the swivel steps a bit, we had a go at the Umbrella and Rock Around the Clock, we danced Tiger Feet and Baby Workout slowed down. And we spent a while stumbling through Double Trouble. And then it was time to go home.

Looks like me and Nicole are going to Far Cotton at the weekend. I love how Far Cotton managed to get Lights Out, and Adrian Marsh managed to get The Jets. Ho hum…

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Tuesday 06 Dec 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

On Saturday we went over to Earl’s Court to see some sort of military display. Lynn would have hated seeing so many horses chained up like that, I’m sure. Lots of large explosions, resulting in lots of smoke, and a very sore throat by the end of it. They seemed to spend a hell of a lot of time rebuilding the arena. Also, considering this is a British Military show, giving it an American theme seems a little strange. But anyway, not much in the way of displays, and lots in the way of political “this is what we’re doing in Iraq, this is how you can donate money to support injured servicemen” and so on. Oh well…

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Monday 05 Dec 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

Well, Friday I got a call from Lynn. She was supposed to come dancing, but apparently she’s now being treated for whiplash injuries. Apparently I hit her that hard. Damn, this just keeps on getting better. Last thing I heard, she was tucked up in bed with some prescription drugs trying to sleep it off. Poor sod…

I spent some time on Facebook chatting to Nicole. She was quite nice to me. Then I went to class and danced with her. She cheered me up, not so much by being kind and sensitive, but just by being Nicole — fun-loving and full of beans. It felt good to smile again.

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